Natural hazards · Santa Nella

Santa Nella, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Santa Nella comes from drought, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community.

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 · OpenFEMA claims, aid & declarations

Expected damage

How exposed is Santa Nella?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Santa Nella to be higher than in 83% of U.S. communities, mostly from drought and earthquakes.

Drought55%Earthquakes33%Inland flooding7%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Santa Nella faces

Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how that compares with the rest of the country.

Drought

55% of expected damage

Recorded about 82 times a year in the area

Earthquakes

33% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 96% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

7% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 25% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsCold wavesTsunamisVolcanic activity

Flood risk changes street by street. Check a specific address on FEMA’s flood map, and ask about flood insurance before you buy.

Flood insurance claims

Does Santa Nella flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Santa Nella.

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Santa Nella isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: Merced County.

Disasters that hit Santa Nella

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Merced County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Santa Nella itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Santa NellaDeclared for Merced County only

Merced County has had 16 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

About these numbers

How to read this page

An average, not a forecastFEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.

Compared by rate“Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s here, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings. Santa Nella is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Santa Nella’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Santa Nella. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau.